Wounded Priests

As I covered in my first book “My God and Yours Jesus Christ,” the bride of Christ is a priesthood (Rev 1:6, 5:10) and the Levitical priests of the old covenant are a type of the bride of Christ. Leviticus chapter 21 contains rules God gave Moses concerning priestly holiness expected of the Levites.

It was strictly forbidden for priests with wounds or defects to enter the Holy Place of the Tabernacle to give offerings to God, nor could wounded priests enter behind the veil into the Most Holy Place, where the glory of God rested above the mercy seat (Exo 25:17-22).

Then the Lord said to Moses, 17 “Give the following instructions to Aaron: In all future generations, none of your descendants who has any defect will qualify to offer food to his God. 18 No one who has a defect qualifies, whether he is blind, lame, disfigured, deformed, 19 or has a broken foot or arm, 20 or is hunchbacked or dwarfed, or has a defective eye, or skin sores or scabs, or damaged testicles. 21 No descendant of Aaron who has a defect may approach the altar to present special gifts to the Lord. Since he has a defect, he may not approach the altar to offer food to his God. 22 However, he may eat from the food offered to God, including the holy offerings and the most holy offerings. 23 Yet because of his physical defect, he may not enter the room behind the inner curtain or approach the altar, for this would defile my holy places. I am the Lord who makes them holy.” Leviticus 21:16-23 NLT

Since everything under the old covenant is meant to teach us principles of the Kingdom of God (Rom 15:4, 1 Cor 10:11), we must pay attention to what the Lord is showing us concerning wounded priests.

Unhealed wounds, and sin that has stained our soul, prevents us from entering into the depth of communion God desires to have with His people. As I have illustrated in my own testimony, a wounded soul restricts and blocks the Holy Spirit, therefore we cannot achieve priestly holiness. We cannot offer ourselves fully to the Lord until our wounds are healed and our soul is cleansed.